Bikers ride to raise funds, comfort kids

Published 2:08 pm, Saturday, May 23, 2015

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The shoot-out at a Waco restaurant last weekend has cast a spotlight on the two sides of American biker culture: the more sinister side, which has stemmed from the lore of outlaw gangs such the Banditos and Hells Angels, and the brighter side, benign bike enthusiasts with a charitable bent.

“We’re not an outlaw group,” said Brian “Pee Paw” Bylsma, president of the San Angelo chapter of the Blue Knights Motorcycle Club, whose members consist of active and retired law enforcement officers. There are 27 chapters across the state.

“On my vest that I wear, I have my colors with a patch on it that saysm, ‘The 99 percent,’” Bylsma said. “It basically means that we’re the good guys. We’re not that 1 percent that goes out and causes trouble, or gives the perception that we’re causing trouble.”

The Blue Knights have dedicated thousands of dollars and countless hours of fundraising for various charity funds, Bylsma said. Nonetheless, the rumble of their motors and the gleam of their black leathery vests as they ride along Texas highways to carry out their good deeds remind onlookers of the hard-bitten ruggedness of biker culture.

“Any time you put on a vest and a doo-rag and dark glasses and big biker boots, people are going to assume that you’re mean. Simple as that,” said Javier “Chewy” Franco of Sweetwater, the regional spokesman for the Bikers Against Child Abuse Motorcycle organization. “You can’t dispel it. You just go with the flow, you just smile.”

Like many of the region’s motorcycle clubs and organizations, both BACA and the Blue Knights wear the three-piece-rocker-the vest patches that identify the wearer’s club, insignia and territorial location -- as did gangs of past eras.

“A lot of people, not having the knowledge of knowing who we are, would look at us kind of funny,” Bylsma said. “I think now, because of what we’ve been doing and the presence and publicity we’ve made, a lot of people know exactly who the Blue Knights are in San Angelo.”

But until people realize the side of biker culture they represent, the men often are met with a side glance, Franco said.

The day after the Waco shooting, Franco and other BACA members were making their way from Midland to Sweetwater in full regalia after lending support during a court hearing to a Midland child who had suffered abuse.

“We stopped at a truck stop in Big Spring, and of course people were giving us side glances, but then they read the back-patch that read Bikers Against Child Abuse,” Franco said. “I walked in the store, and the attendant said somebody paid for your gas.”

Groups will ride long miles to support children involved child-abuse cases, but despite their reputation, many courtrooms -- including Midland’s -- bar the leather biker vests, Franco said.

Since 2012, the Sweetwater chapter of BACA has been serving parts of West Texas, including Midland. The organization was founded in 1996 to bring the camaraderie and brotherhood found throughout biker culture to abused children.

When a child is accepted into the arms of the group, the child can call upon the bikers to come to their home when feeling unsafe. Sometimes, just the roaring of the motorcycle engines as the biker drives by is enough to give the child a sense of security, Franco said.

“It’s not unusual to see this big burly biker doing jump rope with a child, or playing jacks with a child on the ground, or getting in air castles or swinging with kids on a playground,” Franco said. “It’s beautiful to see these big burly bikers getting pushed on a swing by these kids.”